Page 44 of Gabriel's Album

“Hey, guys. Did you enjoy the trip here as much as I did?” He winks at her as we approach them, and she laughs.

“Are you going to introduce us to your new friend, Seb?” Hayden asks.

“Guys, this is Tessa, and she hasverykindly offered to give me a ride around the city today so I don’t have to travel places in a cramped minivan. Tessa, this is Hayden, Gabriel, and Harrison. They’re my backup singers.”

Tessa giggles at Sebastian’s stupid joke while I smile and shake her hand before we all follow Kendall into the radio station. I catch Harrison’s gaze and roll my eyes at him when I see Sebastian put his arm around Tessa’s waist as they walk ahead of us into the station.

We enter the studio and greet the radio DJs, Claire and David. They explain the format for the interview, and we’re sitting around waiting for it to start when my phone rings.

The number calling me is a New York number I don’t recognize, but so few people have my phone number that I answer it quietly anyway. “Hello?”

“Hi, Gabriel,” Ariana replies.

“Ari? We’re about to go on-air, what’s up?” I ask her, dropping the volume of my voice a couple of decibels.

The fear that she’s about to say she wants to leave the tour hits me forcefully in the seconds before she answers my question.

“What’s Harrison’s room number? The front desk won’t tell me, and I want to call Heather.”

Relief floods through me and I feel my body relax once again. She just wants to hang out with Heather like she said she was going to. She’s not leaving.

“Oh, sure.” I ask Harrison at a normal volume, “Hey, Harrison, what’s your room number?”

“Huh? Why?” He looks confused.

I raise my eyebrows, glance over at the DJs, then point to the phone. Harrison’s expression clears and he nods before smiling at me.

“Ah. I’m in 1032.”

“1032,” I tell Ariana as I give Harrison a thumbs up.

“Excellent. Thanks, Gabe.”

I want to tell her all the things that I will do to her when I see her. I want to beg her again not to leave today. I want to tell her that she is definitely starting to mean more to me than I ever really expected. I can’t tell her any of that.

Instead, I say softly, “No problem, I’ll see you later.”

I hang up the call as the show’s producer tells us that we’ll be live in two minutes.

“We’ve got Cruise Control with us in the studio this morning. How are you, guys?” Claire asks when the commercial break ends.

“Great,” I say into the microphone in front of me.

“This is your first tour. Are you enjoying yourselves?” she asks.

Before any of us can respond, David chimes in, “WeknowSebastian is. Who’s your pretty friend with the motorcycle?”

“Her name is Tessa,” Sebastian laughs and waves at her where she’s standing in the control room with Kendall.

“Obviously, our listeners don’t know what we’re talking about,” David says. “Imagine our surprise when Sebastian Fox rides up to our studio this morning on the back of a motorcycle being driven by a woman wearing a bikini.”

Sebastian grins wickedly at him. “It’s the only way to travel around New York City.”

“What about the rest of you?” Claire asks, beaming directly at me.

“Yeah, the tour has been great. Our fans are amazing, and we love performing for them,” I answer her.

I smile as I think about how fucking lucky we’ve been. If it wasn’t for people enjoying our music, we wouldn’t have anything.

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